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From: frye@cerl.uiuc.edu (G. David Frye)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.appletalk
Subject: Re: LocalTalk and Ethertalk
Message-ID: <1991May9.052711.3452@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: 9 May 91 05:27:11 GMT
References: <91122.143244ALC@psuvm.psu.edu> <1991May3.154853.19287@usenet.ins.cwru.edu> <1991May4.023636.19597@ccu.umanitoba.ca>
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The answer to the question is "no", as a couple of posters have said.  In
case it isn't obvious why this is so, I thought I'd put it in perspective.

The Macintosh's native networking method is Appletalk.  One can specify
what kind of medium the Appletalk protocol is used on, but you only get one
choice -- either Localtalk or Ethertalk.  Regardless of the one you select,
every Appletalk-referenced device must be connected to it in some way.  So
if you need Appleshare-via-VAX _and_ LaserWriter capability, the LaserWriter
must be connected to the ethernet in some way.

There are three obvious ways:  1) use the Etherprint device; 2) use a
localtalk-ethernet bridge such as the Fastpath; 3) use a Macintosh running
some kind of gateway software.

The above description is fairly simple.  What confuses it is the existence
of MacTCP, which is a tool that lets an application talk TCP/IP to the
outside world through various means.  With MacTCP you are required to
specify the connection method:  either Appletalk, using whatever network
was specified above, by interacting with an Appletalk device that converts
IP-in-Appletalk packets to IP packets and transmits them on an IP network
(and vice versa); or direct-to-Ethernet by sending and receiving packets
with IP protocol.

G. David Frye
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